Pogostick Man

Pogostick Man is the ninth character addition to Happy Wheels. He is an adult male riding a pogo stick, and was introduced in April, 2012. The pogo stick itself is metallic with a spring inside; this is animated every time the pogo stick lands. He is the second character to have a vehicle with no visible wheels, the first being Santa Claus, and the fifth character capable of coherent speech. He is voiced by YouTube personality UberHaxorNova, as stated in his first YouTube video featuring the character. He also ejects upon breaking his arms, much in the same way Segway Guy does.

Pogostick Man wears a white helmet, similar to Segway Guy, Irresponsible Dad, and Irresponsible Mom; he further sports elbow and knee pads. He also wears a gray shirt with a red vest over it, blue shorts with a black belt, a white wrist band, gray and black shoes with white laces, and white socks with two red stripes. His pogo stick is the smallest, thinnest vehicle in the game, and can break into four different pieces: top part of the frame, bottom part of frame, stick, and spring.

He is capable of reattaching to his vehicle after ejection, even if his legs have broken, and, infrequently, even after being torn in half. Pogostick Man is very resistant to damage and in many cases can survive long falls. Due to the way his pogostick functions, it is nearly impossible for him to move up slopes whilst on them. When falling from long distances, holding Ctrl to crouch down is suggested to cushion the fall.

The pogo stick can also be launched by charging with space, jumping (optional, but safer), and immediately pressing z. If one skips the jumping part, Pogostick Man might reattach to the vehicle, potentially breaking his arms.

History

The character was revealed by accident in the 1.62 update, where for a short time his name appeared in the "playable character" drop-down box in the Browse Levels section. No official statement was made on when he would be officially revealed and/or released.

With the 1.63 update on April 13, 2012, Pogostick Man was released officially.

With the 1.63b update on April 16, 2012, the bug in which Pogostick Man's joints would spin uncontrollably when his vehicle was hidden was fixed.[1]

Glitches

In versions 1.63 and 1.63a, Pogostick Man would be extremely bugged when the "Hide Vehicle" option was checked in a level he was being used on. His joints would function incorrectly, appearing ragdolled and simply rolling. This would almost instantly tear him apart, even in midair. When ejecting from his vehicle normally, the character was not subject to this phenomenon. The bug was fixed in version 1.63b.

Considering his vulnerability due to his exposure around his vehicle, his joints were strengthened to endure more than normal characters. However, they appear to be too strong, having the ability to rotate around more than 360°. This is easily observed when stuck on an object such as a Harpoon.

If Pogostick Man reattaches his legs to the pogo stick in the opposite direction (i.e., in reverse), the game will attempt to shift them in a proper position in a very unnatural manner.

Trivia

Although Pogostick Man lacks horizontal speed, he can jump higher than any other character. He can easily launch himself very high into the air, overcoming tall obstacles, with the ability to withstand a tough landing.

Due to the physics applied to the pogo stick, the components of the vehicle may misalign momentarily. This is normal and does not affect the function of the vehicle.

Although weapons pass through the pogo stick, it can block arrows from reaching the player.

Charging his pogo stick and then ejecting with Z will cause the pogo stick to discharge, launching it away from the player.

He is the second character to make the exclamation "Damn it!" after Irresponsible Dad. UberHaxorNova stated that he was trying to imitate the Irresponsible Dad, his favorite character.

Nova has stated that he had recorded common phrases from his Happy Wheels playthroughs for Pogostick Man, such as "Wiggle your niblets!", but most of these were not included.

When Jim first mentioned wanting to create a character voiced by Nova, it was originally thought the character would be based off Gumby. However, Jim debunked this in one of his later videos.